Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, June 12, 2007


Quarry Books: Yes, Boys Can!: Inspiring Stories of Men Who Changed the World - He Can H.E.A.L. by Richard V Reeves and Jonathan Juravich, illustrated by Chris King

Simon & Schuster: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: Nightweaver by RM Gray

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers: The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman

Overlook Press: Hotel Lucky Seven (Assassins) by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Brian Bergstrom

News

Notes: Baudoin Moves; Publisher-Bookseller; Business Plan?

Lisa Baudoin, who for the past year has been general manager of the Book Vault, Oskaloosa, Iowa, has become book buyer at Books & Company in Oconomowoc, Wis., owned by Diana Cohen. She is currently working part-time from her home in Iowa. "Once I move my family at the end of the summer," she wrote, "I will be full-time."

Before joining the Book Vault, Baudoin had been manager and buyer of Main Street Books in Pella, Iowa. She continues as a member of the board of the Midwest Booksellers Association and the ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council.

---

Publisher as indie bookseller? The Sunday Herald reported that "one of Scotland's largest publishers has bought the first in a series of independent bookshops in a bid to thwart the big chain domination." Hugh Andrew, managing director of Birlinn Press, "will run the [Elgin bookshop Yeadons] as a separate business, with discounted titles and 'cross fertilisation' with his publishing company."

---

Summer reading lists continue to make news, with Raleigh, N.C.'s News & Observer conducting the latest poll of local booksellers for hot weather picks. "The perfect summer book is lighter fare that you can just sit back and relax with," said Peter Mock, buyer for McIntyre's Fine Books, Pittsboro, N.C. "They're stories that you can escape into for five minutes or for hours."

---

"Business plan? I never had one. Still don't really have one," Barry Caplan, owner of Sundance Books, Geneseo, N.Y., told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. In lieu of a business plan, however, Caplan "did have good ideas about how to make a business work: Undersell the competition; give good service; adapt to new technologies. . . . And make sure you're having fun."

---

The Minneapolis Star Tribune's obituary for longtime antiquarian bookseller Melvin McCosh was a compelling tribute to one man's reading life. "We respected the knowledge of books that he carried around in his head," said Larry Dingman, a retired competitor. "I had a nice career as a bookseller, but frankly, I was just a salesman. I didn't have the scholarly background that Mel had."

---

The AP scans Scholastic and Disney's respective programs that offer children's books in film and e-book formats. Scholastic's BookFlix, geared to the school and library market, has already launched. Disney will offer downloads to consumers when its program starts later this year. 

---

Mark Ouimet has joined Ingram Publisher Services as v-p, client acquisitions. He was formerly associate publisher and director of sales and marketing at North Atlantic Books and earlier was executive v-p of marketing at PGW. He will be located in the IPS office in Berkeley, Calif.

 


BINC: Your donation can help rebuild lives and businesses in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and beyond. Donate Today!


BEA: Book & Author Breakfast and Lunch Tidbits

Stephen Colbert stayed in Colbert Report character for all of about two seconds--just long enough to admit he liked the books by the other speakers at the Saturday book and author breakfast. But he immediately backtracked, saying that his forthcoming I Am American and So Can You (Grand Central) was "the best!"

Colbert praised the booksellers in the room, saying, "You're all good looking and intelligent! Those of us who know we need booksellers all like to make love with you. We put out. I'll wear something loose to the next one of these."

Colbert and another panelist also got into the one of the funniest public exchanges at BEA. After being introduced by Colbert, Khaled Hosseini, whose new book is A Thousand Splendid Suns (Riverhead), said, "I'm a huge fan of our emcee, but I've been dying for this chance." Addressing Colbert, he continued, "You went on Amazon and gave The Kite Runner an F-minus. It is un-American to diss The Kite Runner. Hell hath no fury like the wrath of a Kite Runner fan. Now you know how the president felt."

Later Colbert responded that the wrath had resulted in "women's book clubs gathered on my front lawn, wielding a torch in one hand and a glass of cheap white wine in the other."

Noting that this was his first time at the show, Hosseini called it "a thrill to see the chaos that is BEA." He also thanked booksellers for the success of The Kite Runner, despite Colbert's diss, saying, "You loved the book from the beginning and shoved it into the hands of readers."

He noted that "one constant in my writing is that I've always written for an audience of one: me. . . . I never intended to get The Kite Runner published even as far as two-thirds of my way through it. I never thought anyone would read it, except my wife--because she loved me."

A very earnest, but sometimes funny Rick Burns talked about his coming film and book, The War (Knopf), focusing on World War II. "It's been 17 years since The Civil War," he said, "It's daunting that in 17 years I've managed only to remove the word 'Civil' from the title of my work."

He noted several reasons for doing the project now. For one, "we're losing a thousand veterans of World War II every day. I'm in the memory business; memory is the DNA of history." In addition, "Huge numbers of kids today think we fought with the Germans against the Soviets."

For her part, Lisa See, whose next book is Peony in Love (Random House), told the assembled booksellers, "I want to say thank you. I thought no one would read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. While I was writing it, I was told, among other things, that it wouldn't be read because it was set in China, because it was set in the 19th century, because all the characters were women. I was told, 'people will think you're a lesbian.' I thought maybe 5,000 people would read it, but it would be the right 5,000."

Alan Alda, whose new title is Things I Learn While Talking to Myself (Random House), summed up the theme for the Saturday book and author lunch as "If doing the right thing is the right thing, what is the right thing?"

Valerie Plame Wilson, the former CIA operations officer who was outed by the Bush administration, which was angry at her husband, Joe Wilson, said proudly that she and her family recently moved to Santa Fe, N.M., from Washington and had 12,000 lbs. of stuff, 6,000 of which were books. She expressed delight at having recently caught one of her seven-year-old twins reading with a flashlight under a blanket, saying, "I'm doing something right!"

She's been busy, besides moving. "Simon & Schuster and I are suing the CIA [over clearances for her October book, Fair Game]," she said. "I never thought I'd say that. But I should be able to write as others have and be able to write my story with unclassified information. . . . I'm very, very grateful S&S stepped up."

Paul Krugman emphasized that his new book, Conscience of a Liberal (Norton), consists of essays and is not a collection of his columns from the New York Times. "It's not so much about bashing Bush and Cheney, but more about what comes next." Krugman is trying to take the long view retrospectively, too. The conservative movement "ultimately is trying to roll back the achievements of the '30s and '40s and turn around the New Deal," he said. "It finally got hold of all the levers of power in 2000. So far it hasn't gone well . . . this administration is so bad and so incompetent that there is a real chance of change" that could lead to a "new New Deal."

Russell Simmons said that his book, Do You! (Gotham), is "about how to remember to remember the obvious. Hopefully this book will ring a bell for us." He said most people live by the same laws and want the same things: to be "stronger, more creative and connected." His book is also "about spirituality and money. The world is obsessed by them."

Ben Karlin, who was added to the Sunday book and author breakfast after Paulo Coelho cancelled, said he and Coelho have more in common than people may think. "He's from Brazil. I've been to Argentina." He also compared himself with the bag of sand that replaces the golden monkey head in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, saying, "I am that bag of sand."

The former executive producer of the Daily Show and Colbert Report will have a new book in February, an anthology called Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me. His mother wrote the foreword, which includes her rousing support: "I think my son is a catch." Karlin is now happily married.

Ian McEwan, author of the new short novel On Chesil Beach, began by quoting Herodotus: "No man should speak longer than he can make love. So thank you very much." He started for his chair but returned and continued, "My theme is brevity, but I'll get to that later." He went on to say that "the short novel has a peculiar kind of pleasure. You feel the form, shape and architecture of the short novel that you can't feel in the long novel until the second or third draft."

Of his new book, he said, "I wrote down 5 by 8. Five chapters, 8,000 words." The characters' marriage "only lasts six hours so the short novel seems appropriate. It's a novel of tender failure."

"You have been the lifeblood of my writing life," he added. "Bookstores are the last outpost of civilization."

Alice Sebold, whose new book is The Almost Moon (Little, Brown), thanked booksellers for helping her and her husband pay off all their student loans. She said she was concerned about publishing a second novel after the success of The Lovely Bones, which she repeatedly referred to simply as Bones, saying, "I hope the new book doesn't suck."

Sebold said also that she wouldn't read from her book because it starts off with the lead character murdering her mother, and "murdering your mother doesn't go well with breakfast."

Rosie O'Donnell, whose new book is Celebrity Detox (Grand Central), talked a bit about the book, the meaning of "celebrity" and how it changes people, especially some she has been very close to. Unfortunately she couldn't stay because it was her turn to watch her son's soccer game. He scored three goals last week, and it was a big game for the Bumble Bees.

O'Donnell thanked her editor Jamie Rabb for helping her work on the timing for the release of the book, teasingly suggesting that maybe she created the recent controversy on the View to create more interest in the book. Concerning BEA show director Lance Fensterman, who emceed the Sunday book and author breakfast with his usual wit, she said, "That tall guy is really funny."--John Mutter and Susan L. Weis

 


GLOW: Berkley Books: The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Suspense Fictional and Nonfictional

This morning on the Today Show, Marcus Luttrell talks about Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 (Little, Brown, $24.99, 9780316067591/0316067598).

Also on the Today Show: Emma Forrest, author of Damage Control: Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers Who Navigate Their Bodies (Avon, $13.95, 9780061175350/0061175358).

---

Today on Good Morning America: Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles (Doubleday, $27.50, 9780385517089/0385517084).

---

Today on the Early Show, Jeffery Deaver ratchets up the suspense with The Sleeping Doll (S&S, $26.95, 9780743260947/0743260945).

Also on the Early Show: Marina Litvinenko, widow of the late Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and co-author with Alex Goldfarb of Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB (Free Press, $27, 9781416551652/1416551654).

---

Today on MSNBC's Morning Show: Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, authors of Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Little, Brown, $29.99, 9780316017428/0316017426). The pair are also campaigning today on CNN's Paula Zahn Now, Fox's Hannity and Colmes, Inside Edition and Hardball.

---

Today on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show, Scott Gant speaks up about We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age (Free Press, $26, 9780743299268/0743299264).

---

Today's co-host on the View is René Syler, former anchor of CBS's Early Show and author of Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $22.95, 9781416934912/141693491X).

---

Today the Rachael Ray Show re-airs an episode with Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance, authors of Friends: A Love Story (Harlequin, $24.95, 9780373830589/0373830580).

---

Today on the Tavis Smiley Show: Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes an impact with The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Random House, $26.95, 9781400063512/1400063515).

---

Tonight on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: speechwriter and political campaign strategist Robert Shrum, whose new book is No Excuses: Confessions of a Serial Campaigner (S&S, $28, 9780743296519/0743296516).

---

Tonight on Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Tim Russert, with his Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons (Random House, $13.95, 9780812975437/081297543X).


Books & Authors

Attainment: New Books Out Next Week

Selected titles with a pub date of next Tuesday, June 19:

Innocent as Sin by Elizabeth Lowell (Morrow, $24.95, 9780060829827/0060829826). Romantic suspense from the author of The Wrong Hostage and Whirlpool.

The Lady in Blue by Javier Sierra (Atria, $25.95, 9781416532231/1416532234). The author of The Secret Supper crafts a tale (set in the U.S. and Spain) centered on a centuries-old enigma.

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's, $27.95, 9780312349493/0312349491). In her 13th outing, not-so-lucky bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is the prime suspect in her ex-husband's alleged murder.

Second Chance by Jane Green (Viking, $24.95, 9780670038572/0670038571). A tragedy reunites four friends in this novel from the author of Swapping Lives and The Other Woman.

Secret Asset by Stella Rimington (Knopf, $24.95, 9781400043958/1400043956). The follow-up to Rimington's debut thriller, At Risk, brings the return of MI5 intelligence officer Liz Carlyle.

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time
by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen (Three Rivers Press, $12.95, 9780307381354/0307381358). Hundreds of ideas on how small changes can help save the planet, with tips from Ellen DeGeneres, Robert Redford and other celebrities.

On sale in paperback June 19:

Never Lie to a Lady by Liz Carlyle (Pocket, $7.50, 9781416527145/1416527141).

Lisey's Story by Stephen King (Pocket, $9.99, 9781416523352/1416523359).


Book Brahmins: Raven Bower

Raven Bower's debut novel, Apparitions (ArcheBooks, 9781595071811, 1595071814), is being released now. Here she answers questions that we put to people in the industry occasionally:

 



On nightstand now:

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. This is the first book of his that I've read--he came highly recommended from a friend. I'm only a quarter of the way through it, but so far it's as good as they say!

Favorite book when you were a child:

Oh goodness. If only I could remember that far back. It was a stone tablet, I think.

Top five authors:

This is such a hard question! I like so many authors, and all of them are talented. If I had to choose though I'd pick Robert McCammon, Steve Alten, Dean R. Koontz, Lisa Jackson and Carla Neggers.

Book you've "faked" reading:

Huckleberry Finn. I was supposed to read it in school but never did.

Book you are an "evangelist" for:

I'd have to say Swan Song by Robert McCammon. Everyone who comes to me who wants to write gets assigned that book to read!

Book you've bought for the cover:

Covers are enticing and I always pay attention to them so this is a hard question too! I'll give it to Dead Run by Erica Spindler. I love the sense of mystery that cover provokes with the moon over the graveyard and grass.

Book that changed your life:

All of them do. Sorry, I really can't pick one out of them. They've all changed me and made me view things, sometimes small, sometimes large, in a different light.

Favorite line from a book:

"I'm so wired on caffeine, I've got the reflexes of a pit viper." Said by Carson in Koontz's Frankenstein, Prodigal Son. It's a funny line, particularly where it is said, and I can totally relate!

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Creature by Peter Benchley. I plan on reading it again, for a second time, but would love to be able to go on that adventure for the first time again. Such an interesting story.

Take care and happy adventures!



Ooops

Instead of Olmstead: Olmsted

Our mention yesterday of the co-designer of Prospect Park in Brooklyn contained a mistake, particularly ironic because we mentioned that in designing Prospect Park, he aimed to fix mistakes he had made earlier designing Central Park in Manhattan. His fixed name is Frederick Law Olmsted.

 


Powered by: Xtenit